Working Together
by Cehsja
Summary: Sarah can't stand working with Danny, or can she? Working Together - Sarah & Danny Edition (Maybe a Conby Edition to come later) Short one-shot


**Yes, I know, it's been awhile since I posted a story. This single mum business is keeping me busy, but I love it :) I did manage to complete a short one shot though, so enjoy!**

 **Working Together**

"Why?" Sarah demanded, actually giving her foot a small stamp in her anger.

Judging from the direction her glare was focused, Danny presumed that he was, once again, the subject of her sudden malcontent. He just wasn't sure why and he really didn't have time to work it out, so he simply snapped at her, "Because I said so," and hoped she'd drop it until later.

There was an anomaly open in the Forest of Dean and a large carnivorous creature had made its way through. Abby and Connor knew the name of the beast. They had told him, but it was long, unfamiliar and unpronounceable and he'd forgotten seconds later. It didn't matter; he knew it was big and had sharp teeth and that's really all he cared about. That and Sarah.

He'd ordered the team to split up, sending Abby and Connor North to look for it, and then saying, "Sarah, you're with me." And that's when she'd lost her temper.

Abby and Connor exchanged glances and ran off quickly, obeying their orders without question, most likely relieved to avoid hearing the argument that was sure to transpire.

Danny could see that Sarah was still fuming at his response, but they had a creature to catch so he hoped she would follow him if he started walking. She did. He knew her enough to know that her silence meant she was too angry to speak. He sighed, "Look, Sarah, I'm gonna need you to tell me what you're so upset about this time."

"Why don't you let me work with Abby once in awhile?" Her voice was mad and demanding.

"Because then I'd have to work with Connor," he tried joking with her in order to steer clear of the real answer.

Sarah didn't take the bait. "And what's wrong with Connor? I like him. I'd gladly work with him if you'll partner with Abby then."

Danny hid his hurt expression from her by turning away and scanning the area, but he couldn't help commenting, "So anyone but me then, eh?" Then he quickly continued before she could respond, not wanting to hear her confirm it. "Abby and Connor work _really_ well together. They can read each other perfectly and have some sort of wordless communication thing going on for them. For the most part, it makes sense for me to team them up together."

"Becker?"

Danny threw his arms into the air in frustration. "Becker's not even _here!_ He's busy training the new recruits! If you wanted to be with Becker you could have stayed at the ARC, which, actually speaking, I clearly remember ordering you to do."

Sarah didn't quite have an answer to that one because it _was_ true. He _had_ actually ordered her to stay behind, like he always did. She wasn't too pleased about that one either.

* * *

"What's your problem?" Abby asked curiously as she changed into a clean top later in the locker room. They'd found the creature after an hour or so and sent him home without any issues, a victorious day by all means, minus the mud they were all covered in. She thought better of her question and reworded it. "What'd Danny do to get you so upset?"

Sarah sighed. "He doesn't trust me to take care of myself. It's always 'Sarah, you're with me,' or even 'Sarah, you stay at the ARC'. He thinks I'm not capable of anything and that he has to babysit me or something if I come along. I'm just another hindrance for him to worry about, you know."

"But Sare, he assigns Connor and I together too, and even _he_ doesn't work alone."

"I know, but it _feels_ different. He seems extraprotective of me. I just worry he thinks I'm not good enough to be on the team. The others think it too. Ever since Cutter died and my research for his model became useless, well, I'm just really not needed. I don't care so much what the others think, but I wish I could just find some way to impress _him_."

"Sarah, I really think you're reading too much into this."

"Oh _c'mon,_ Abs! Don't tell me you can't see it? Haven't you noticed the way he almost hovers over me at times?"

"No and yes."

Sarah gave her friend a puzzled look, and Abby clarified. "No, I can't see what you're talking about, and yes, I've noticed how he hovers over you. Yeah, he protects you more than the rest of us, and maybe he checks up on you a bit more, but he doesn't do it because he thinks you're less capable, he does it because he's be more devastated if he lost you than he would with anyone else. And you _do_ impress him. Sarah, you may not have noticed, but you really hurt him when you act like you can't stand him like that."

Sarah remained quiet. She wanted to protest, but she found that the things Abby said were neither surprising nor new to her. It's not like she hadn't seen the hurt in Danny's eyes; he hadn't hidden it _that_ well, though she knew he had tried. She'd purposely put up the blinders over her own eyes, denying Danny's feelings for herself, because she'd been scared she was wrong. But if Abby had noticed too…

"You're right, Abs. I'll try to fix things," she finally agreed. "I just hope I don't hurt him more."

"You won't, Sare," Abby assured her.

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"If Danny were to flat out confess he fancies you and ask you out, would you turn him down?"

"No," she surprised herself by not even hesitating with her response.

"Than you aren't going to hurt him. Actions speak louder than words, Sarah, especially in Danny's case here. I think you're safe to treat him as if he's already admitted it."

"I hope you're right Abs, I really hope you're right," Sarah replied as she turned to leave. Then, just before she left the room, she turned back. "Abby?"

"Yeah?"

"This whole conversation we just had? The one about how I should change the way I'm acting because I'm hurting the man I care about? You should maybe consider having it again with yourself; only replace Danny with Connor of course."

She left before Abby could respond.

* * *

Sarah didn't go to Danny immediately. She wasn't really sure what she was going to say to him, so she went were she usually went when she needed to think: to the artefact. She sat on her stool and chipped away at it steadily, her mind wandering while she did. Danny found her first, startling her as he entered the room.

"Sorry," he apologized when he saw her jump. "I just, I came to – well, I want to fix us - this. I hoped we could talk."

It wasn't like him to stammer unsurely, and Sarah knew it was because it was so important to him that she accept. She nodded, giving him a small smile. "Yeah, that'd be good, really good."

He was pleasantly surprised that she was seemingly not angry at him anymore. He glanced around for an extra stool so he could sit beside her, but then noticed there wasn't any in the room so he leaned hopped up onto the table instead. "Now okay?"

"Sure," Sarah answered, "But let's go somewhere else, away from the ARC, so we aren't interrupted.

Danny gratefully agreed.

* * *

Danny glanced at Sarah as she hopped off the back of his motorbike and removed her helmet at the café. They hadn't spoken on the ride, partly because they wouldn't have heard each other very well and partly because it made a lot more sense to hold off until they actually sat down for lunch.

Earlier he had gone over the upcoming conversation many times in his mind, but that was before he had come to see her and discovered that she didn't seem mad anymore. Now he didn't know what he planned on saying.

Then again, maybe she _was_ still mad, but had just calmed down a bit? He wasn't always the best at understanding women. Maybe he should just stick with the plan. He hated the plan, but if it made Sarah happy…

He waited until they were sitting across from one another in a secluded booth. He'd purposely chosen one in the quietest corner of the café so they could freely discuss things like dinosaurs. Then he spoke.

"Sarah, I'm thinking of resigning."

" _What?!"_ Sarah's surprise registered across her face and she put down the sandwich she had just picked up. " _Why?"_

"Well, it would seem that people don't like working with me."

"Danny, that was just me. No one else cares if they get stuck with you."

Danny winced a bit at the word 'stuck' before replying. "You're the only one whose opinion I really care about in the first place."

"What am I supposed to say to that Danny?"

"I-I was kinda hoping you'd beg me to stay."

"The thing is, I can't decide if you're being serious or not. Are you actually considering quitting if I don't? And how, exactly, do you suppose it would 'fix us', your words, not mine, if we aren't seeing each other at all? Or are you just shamming to make me promise to work with you if you'll stay?"

She was giving him a lot harder of a time that she'd planned on. In fact, she'd planned on apologizing and just moving on, but his statement had shocked her and she needed to know what he was thinking.

"I don't want to leave, Sarah, but yes, I'm seriously considering it. It used to be that finding Patrick was the only thing that mattered to me, but it's not now. I know you guys would let me know if he showed up and, in the meantime, I've learned to care deeply about others as well. I want you to be happy, Sare, and if working with me makes you miserable then so be it. As for the other stuff, while, I guess I hoped I would still see you. I hoped you'd be less opposed to spending time with me outside of work than you are at work, but if you're not, its fine, I'll learn to live with it."

"What if we come up with some sort of deal?"

"What sort of deal?" He asked immediately.

"You quit trying to protect me so much, and I'll stop yelling at you when we have to work together."

"Sare, it's my _job_ to protect you, and I'm sorry, but I'm not going to stop, even if it means leaving the job and letting someone replace me that you'll listen to a little better. If that's what keeps you safe, so be it."

"I listen to you more than anyone else."

"Then I don't know what to do Sare, because I can't let you get hurt."

She saw the pained and distressed look in his eyes and felt terrible. Standing, she slid her plate across the table and moved over so that she could sit beside him in the booth rather than across from him. He slid over instantly to make room for her and she placed her hand on his arm gently so he'd look at her.

"You know what _I_ want? I want you to trust me more. I know that, fighting-dinosaur-wise, I'm the weakest link on the team, but when it comes to quick thinking and knowledge, well, that's _my_ strong point and sometimes I may have ideas that can help. I want you to quit telling me to stay behind at the ARC. I can't handle sitting there while the people I care most about put themselves in the line of danger. If you can stop treating me like a tagalong burden than maybe I wouldn't _feel_ like such a hindrance. Maybe I'd feel that when you say, 'Sarah, you're with me,' it was because you _wanted_ me to be with you, that you wanted my help. And maybe if I felt like I was an important part of the team, I wouldn't feel like I need to do something drastic just to impress you. In fact, I promise you, that I'd be a lot more willing to listen to you and let you take care of the dangerous stuff, like dino-tranqing, because that's _your_ strong point and not mine. I think it would solve a big part of why I don't like to work with you."

She had seen mid-speech that something had clicked inside Danny's mind, and she knew she'd finally gotten across to him how she was feeling, in a way that he wouldn't argue with.

"You're right, Sarah," he said softly, and he looked like he wanted to say more, but she saw that he was suddenly overcome with emotions and couldn't. He stared at his plate, trying hard not to choke up. Sarah didn't say anything either. She'd already spoken her piece and was content now to wait for him.

When the words still didn't come to him after a few minutes, he covered her own hand that was still on his arm with his, squeezing it tightly. Immediately her fingers curled around his and the gesture finally gave his voice the strength it needed to finish. He lifted his head so he could look her in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Sare, if I made you feel unimportant, because that's the furthest thing possible from the truth. I'd be completely lost without you."

"I'm starting to get that," she replied. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed, and they both fell silent for awhile again, both fighting their own conflicting thoughts as to whether they could or should say more.

Danny took a small leap of courage first. "I like this, Sarah," he said firmly. "I like having you here, close to me, not trying to get away."

She chuckled softly. "I do too, Danny. I like _you_ and I'm sorry I made you feel otherwise." She hesitated, but remembered Abby's words and took a bigger leap of courage. "Part of me, somewhere deep down, even knew how you felt, Danny, but I guess I didn't let myself even think it in case I was wrong. Besides, it's easier to not work with you. The more time I spend with you, the harder it is not to start fancying you, you know."

Danny gave her a grin and took the biggest leap, though their jumps were getting easier. "Then I'm assigning myself to work with you more often, Sarah, because I'm far, far, beyond fancying here. I think I fell madly in love with you the day we met!"

Sarah tried unsuccessfully not to let her glee shine through as she jokingly scolded him, "I've heard it said that it's really, really, bad to fraternize with a co-worker. Workplaces typically aren't meant for such behaviour."

"Don't care. Besides, I've never had a job like this before, have you?

" _What?!_ Dino chasing wasn't part of your mandatory work experience in college?!"

"Of course it was," he teased back. "I meant the social aspect of it. Everyone else is already dating, you know. It's almost like a mandatory part of the job."

"No they aren't. Who else is dating, Danny?"

He paused, "Well, Cutter was dating Claudia, and possibly Jenny because she was possibly the same person."

"It didn't work like that, none of those people are at the job anymore, and how do you know Cutter dated Claudia? All he said to anyone was that she was special to him."

"Well he sure had enough photos of the two of them together. And then there's Connor and Abby."

"They aren't a couple either."

"Sure they are; they just don't know it, and the only way they'll figure it out is if we teach them by setting a good example."

"Danny, I like you, a lot, pretty sure I love you even, so don't take this the wrong way, but you and I are both _far_ too troublesome to ever be someone else's good example."

Danny shrugged with a grin, "Well, I suppose if you're right about the rules about work place dating, that means we're gonna be their bad example then. Either way, we'll teach them by example, yeah?"

Sarah chuckled, "Yeah, I suppose so." And she didn't pull away when he leaned in to kiss her.

* * *

"Sarah, you're with me!" Danny ordered a few days later as they chased a herd of herbivores through a deserted downtown alley.

"Why?" Sarah asked, and Abby's head shot up, ready to run the other way and avoid conflict if necessary, but Sarah didn't sound angry today.

"Because it's easier to steal kisses when you're within reach," he replied.

"You know, I think I like working with you after all."

 **The End**


End file.
